A gray area in the 1981 Act, adopted by Warren County government in July 2011, has led to the revelation that commissioners and the county executive have been violating state law since that time during the budget-setting process.
“The Financial Management Committee has no authority to make any changes in budgets that have been approved by the Budget and Finance Committee,” said Commissioner Scott Rubley. “Anything we do here tonight is nonbinding. I want everyone to understand that.”
Rubley made that announcement Tuesday when the county Financial Management Committee, of which Rubley is a member, met. Among the items of business was reviewing the proposed consolidated budget for fiscal year 2019-20.
Financial Management was created after the county adopted the 81 Act, which combined the financial departments of Warren County Schools, Warren County Highway Department and Warren County government. Since that time, its members have reviewed and made changes to the proposed consolidated budget for each upcoming fiscal year after the county Budget and Finance Committee completed its process of reviewing, cutting and making a recommendation for a property tax.
Rubley said the county was wrong in allowing Financial Management to make changes prior to full Warren County Commission consideration.
Ben Rodgers agreed. He is a county government consultant with the County Technical Advisory Service (CTAS) who reviewed Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA) and determined that Financial Management lacks the authority because the county already has an established Budget and Finance Committee.
“The commission can appoint the Financial Management Committee to serve as the budget committee, an investment committee, and the purchasing committee,” said Rodgers. “It doesn’t state the Financial Management Committee has budget authority if the county also has a budget committee. There is no mention of the two coinciding on the budget.”
Rubley said he didn’t intend to throw the county’s budget-setting process into mayhem.
“I was asked what the difference between Financial Management and Budget and Finance is and I really didn’t know the limits of our authority,” said Rubley. “I contacted the state to better understand the duties and responsibilities of Financial Management. Its guidelines are set by state law. I was shocked when I was told by Charles Curtiss that Financial Management doesn’t have the authority that we thought it did. I’d like to make it clear that we didn’t know we were breaking state law. Now that we know, we cannot ignore it. I can’t.”
Financial Management Committee members made no changes to the proposed budget for fiscal year 2019-20. It will be presented to the Warren County Commission on July 15.
